Making up for mothers’ employed working hours?

Ragni Hege Kitterød and Silje Vatne Pettersen
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Ragni Hege Kitterød: Division for Social and Demographic Research, Statistics Norway, rhk@ssb.no
Silje Vatne Pettersen: Division for Social and Demographic Research, Statistics Norway, svp@ssb.no

Work, Employment & Society, 2006, vol. 20, issue 3, 473-492

Abstract: It is an important aim in Norwegian work-family policy to enhance fathers’ family role, and some argue that we now have a father-friendly welfare state. Norwegian time-use surveys show an increase in fathers’ family-work, but we know little about the factors influencing fathers’ domestic labour. In this article we ask whether fathers increase their housework and childcare in response to mothers’ employment. Using the latest Norwegian time-use survey, we find a non-linear relationship between the mother’s working hours and the couple’s non-overlapping working hours on the one hand, and the mother’s working hours and the father’s family-work on the other.The father makes up for the mother’s absence only when she works short hours and only for certain chores. Full-time employment for the mother does not increase the father’s contribution in any types of family-work. This suggests that dual-earner parents rely mostly on external childcare to substitute for the mother’s absence.

Keywords: couple’s working hours; division of labour; father’s domestic labour; time-use; unpaid work; welfare state (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:20:y:2006:i:3:p:473-492

DOI: 10.1177/0950017006066997

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